Content marketing is a form of marketing that is done solely online. Through content marketing, the business owner uses articles and other content to drive traffic to the business website. The business can be a traditional brick and mortar or run solely online. With either option, the business must have a website that traffic can be directed to.
A content or article marketing campaign should include some of the following elements.
Blog – A business related blog is vital to your content marketing plan. Blogs are indexed faster by search engines. Posting articles on your business blog on a regular basis will help your blog and website find each other quickly.
Article Directories – In a content marketing or article marketing campaign, the business owner can post articles to article directories. Article directories are websites that have the sole purpose of being repositories for these articles. When you publish an article in an article directory, you automatically grant permission for others to publish that article on websites or blogs without paying you. Other people can search the articles on the directory sites and republish those articles. However, to use these articles you must include the author’s resource box. This is a box where you, the author, can put information about yourself, your business, and a link to your website. Therefore, by publishing articles in article directories, you are multiplying the number of times that are published and the links to your website.
Guest posting – Another form of content marketing includes guest posting. Guest posting is exactly what it sounds like. It involves writing an article or post for someone else’s website, usually for free. In return, you can include an agreed number of links, either within the body of the article or in an author’s resource box or in the biography box at the end of the article. Guest posting is a great way to develop relationships with other people in similar niches and get backlinks to your website or blog.
Infographics – Information graphics, such as bar charts, pie charts, or other charts that help illustrate information, are great tools for presenting information and statistics. Plus, they are easy to share.
Press Releases – Press releases can be a powerful content marketing tool. There are many different press release distribution sites. You can post press releases for free, or you can pay for a level of service with these sites. Either way, using these sites will help you spread information about your business, product, and service. Also, using them will help drive traffic to your site and your business.
Share buttons: Don’t forget to add share buttons, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ buttons, to your website and blog. This gives your readers the opportunity to share your articles and infographics and do your marketing for you.
The Internet is a very big place. It is a global market and an advertising forum. Content marketing is an effective way to start getting backlinks to your website and blog and driving traffic to your business.
